Versailles at last!

We had tickets for a 2:00PM tour.  When we finally reached Versailles, it was about 10 minutes before the hour.  We tried to get a taxi to take us up to the palace, but he refused.  Pat ran ahead (literally, and it was another of the UPHILL runs) to try to catch the tour for us and to see if they would wait for all of us to get there.  When she got there, the tour had just left.  Another guide ran ahead to stop the tour for us.  After we all got there, this lady also brought all of us a drink of water.  We must have looked like a ragged bunch!

Louis XIV was well known for his patronage of the arts and that especially included the sciences.  There are many scientific examples in the palace at Versailles.  This clock not only told the time but also the month, day of the week, and the year.  The globe on top also showed the phases of the moon and the astrological signs.

this is a close up of the date mechanism.  Notice all the gold?  Wonder why there was a revolution?

Off to Versailles!

 We finally made it onto the RER (trains going out of Paris).....after many, many steps in the Metro to get to our designated platform.  I've never seen so many stairways!

Susan and I were often behind.....the last little duckies in the line.  ")  She has had ankle surgery and I have COPD.   Needless to say, some of the walking uphill and up and down so many stairs was exhausting for us.

Jan also looks very happy to have made it on the train!  LOL   These photos are courtesy of Barb Wenkel.  Thanks, Barb!

Well, this ride only lasted about 15 minutes.......there was an accident and they shut down the RER for several hours.  We had to backtrack to find a Metro line that would take us all the way out to Versailles.

AND THE WINNER IS................................

..............Jan White!!!  Jan has won the copy of Stampington's newest magazine:  MINGLE!  Congratulations, Jan!  This magazine will be coming to you in the mail next week.  Thanks so much to you and your friends that participated in this contest. 

Street Artists in Monmarte

The artist at this stand (in the grey striped shirt seated behind the display) did lovely pen and ink drawings and then watercolored on them.  They were very pricey (100s of euros).  So, I found some in a shop (copies of course) and bought them and will watercolor on them......eventually.  :)

I was not particularly fond of this artist's mono  colored cityscapes, but thought he had some nice store fronts canvases.  But they were 300-400 euros.  I may have to try to enlarge those and try my hand with some acrylics to see if I can come up with something similiar.

More at Sacre Couer...

 There were so many steps left to climb that we ended up taking the cable car to the top. 

And the first thing we saw was this carousel...... and a double-decker at that.  ")   all the carousels we saw in Paris were two levels.

Going to Montmarte

I didn't think we would ever reach Sacre Couer!  We just kept climbing stairs!  When we would get to the top of that set, another one awaited us!

As close as this looks, there are still hundreds of steps to climb.

A little fun at the flea market...

Judi had seen this purse at one of the vendors just outside the Puces St. Ouen and the man tried to sell it to her for 15euros.  She put it back and we went to mail our postcards.  When we came back, she looked at it again.  He was not at the table when we walked up, but saw her from another booth.  He came running up and said, "Ah, you came back!"   She began to haggle with him, trying to get him down to 10euros.  Finally he said, "Oh, poor African man" and Judi said, "Oh, poor American woman"!  He finally gave in and let her have it for 10euros.  ")

Jan had been looking for a beret and found this at one of the vendors outside the market.  She had fun trying on the hats.

Letters home.......................

Judi and I mailed our postcards home on Monday before we left Clignancourt.  I have a thing about postcards and gone a little crazy buying them..... some to send home and some to put in my collection.  I think I ended up writing and sending about 40 postcards (2 to my honey ").  That was a lot of writing!   But I love to write and was writing in my travel journal every night, too.

Notice the graffiti on the post box. 

More from Puces St. Ouen flea market (Clignancourt)

We had lunch at the flea market.  We had been told that there might be gypsies entertaining us at this cafe.  (The guide book I used also had that bit of information.)  Our floor show was  this lady who crooned away while we ate our lunch and then tried to hawk her CDs while we were finishing up.  ")

Clignancourt flea market..............

Barb took this photo of Jan and I digging through these trays of brass charms.  Our hands were black when we finished!  We did learn very quickly though to read the difference in centimes and euros!  We thought many of these were 50cents and they were 5euro apiece!   So we had to go back through everything we thought we wanted and dwindle down our haul.  We found some really nice bicycle and fan charms.  I ended up with a beautiful clown face.....can't remember who found that one  (Judi or Jan?).  These were some of the greatest times we had......digging through boxes or piles of items to find things to add to our artwork.  ")

Clignancourt......the largest flea market in Paris...............

Jan, Judi, Barb and Pat at the stalls in the flea market.  We actually walked past several vendors set up on the sidewalk outside the flea market.  This is actually one row after another of storage units......some have even installed glass fronts to make their stall look like a little store.  These rows are not in military order...........they are haphazard and the alley ways between them are numbers to keep you from getting lost.  There is also a map for you to use.  ")

Here Judi, Jan and Barb are searching the little boxes for any treasures they can find.  Lots of goodies here, but most were very expensive.

I thought this little row of Donald Ducks was so colorful.........and the cycle bands were a perfect color to pair with them.

The Antique Books market

This antique book market was held at a park (Brassens?).....it was under two separate covered areas with a space in between where people came to sit and watch their children play and ride bikes.  This is another market that we visited twice.  The first time I found two small books:  Van Gogh (not too old....1950) and a postcard book of the art of Toulouse-Lautrec (C.1990).....not antique books, but little treasure for me.  ")

The Flea Market at Vanves

We rode the Metro and then walked several blocks to get to the Vanves flea market.  It was basically up and down both sides of a sidewalk........a very long sidewalk.  ")  We saw everything there....and it is not nearly as large as Clignancourt.  We visited this flea market twice and ended up with such a variety of goods.  The first trip we found a lady selling really old postcards (and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE postcards......postcards were the bulk of my purchases in Paris.....old and new postcards).  I passed up buyin an old book of poetry and some of the others passed up things that we all later wished we had bought.  Thus, the second trip.  ")

Here we are waiting at the corner for Jan and Barb who are taking our photo.  (Fiddle!  I thought you could see the street sign pointing to the Vanves flea market :(        ).     It was HOT standing out there in that sun!  LOL   The humidity was horrible while we were there......most days were "two-shower days".   ")

The Metro.....

On the Metro to the flea market!  We had visited a flea market nearby the day before at Maubert.  Sunday we took off on the Metro to Vanves.  We also wanted to go to the old book market in that area.  Pat looked like the mother duck getting us all through the metro station and gates.  ")  But, we all made it through.....some of us after two tries at the gate.  ")

Dining out

This was our first sidewalk cafe dining experience.  Susan was the only one not present.  We had done so much walking on our first day that her ankle was really giving her a lot of pain.  She decided to stay in her room and rest it.  (She has had surgery on it a few times and has to be very careful with it.)

Hotel Des Grande Ecoles From the Street

This is the street in front of the Hotel Des Grande Ecoles........as you can see from the hotel sign.  It is uphill all the way! 

After entering the gates, a cobblestone drive leads you up to the top where you encounter the garden and to the left is the main hotel lobby and office.  To the right is the Garden Bldg.  (I never heard what they called the two buildings that flank the drive.)

This is one of the gates (doors) that are closed at night.  To get back in one has to put the device attached to the room key up to the electronic reader next to the gate.  When it buzzes you can open the door and get in.  These doors are massive.  Notice the keypad and key reader to the right of the door.   Also the handle on the door.

Jan and Barb's room......

Jan and Barb had a room on the top floor.  It was a long narrow room and their window opened out over the garden.  Their room came with a fan because there was definitely no "flow through" of a breeze up there.  I show you their room because after the first day or two our maid did not put the bedspreads on again.......because we took them off every night and folded them up and placed them in our chairs.  No sense in putting them on if we were only to take them off again, huh?  ")  The beds look very pretty with the spreads on, but they were crocheted and those little knots drove us nuts when we wanted to sit on our beds.  Look how neat those girls were!

(Photos courtesy Barb Wenkel)

In the Garden..........

This is another view of the garden at the hotel.  This area is to the left of the door at the front of the hotel.  I believe the hotel has 50 rooms, so you can see they have lots of seating outside.  There is also a dining room inside.  The weather was so nice in the mornings and the evenings that we always sat outside.....breakfast in the mornings, supper or just visiting in the evenings.

Here is Pat coming over from the Garden Bldg.  Her room was on the top floor and Susan's room was down one floor directly under Pat's room.  (Doesn't she look ready to lead her little duckies on a tour?!  We threatened several times to make her a little flag to hold up as she led us around Paris.  ")  What would we have done without her?......not as well, I think!  Thank you, Pat, for putting up with us!  Love you!)

The windows in our room (Judi and Sharon) were very tall skinny windows......OPEN all the time because there it was very hot and stuffy......no air conditioning.   About 2AM it would cool down and we could sleep under a cover.  ")  Sometimes we even opened the door to our room to encourage a draft or draw of air through the windows and the room.  It was such a surprise to some of neighbors in the adjoing room.  LOL   But, all in all, they would just smile and say good day or Bonjour.    (We never left it open at night, of course!)  The view from the window was across a private drive into the apartments you can see.  We had some interesting views from this window.  Every morning an old man would come out on his patio and draw or proof read a manuscript (well, that's our story, anyway!  LOL).  On school days the sounds of children skipping, laughing and talking would draw us to the window to see them being escorted by fathers/mothers down the drive and through the gate.  The school was close by for we could hear the children in the day time playing on the grounds and also hear the school bell ring.   Late at night we could hear the revelers from the local pubs/resteraunts as they laughed, talked and sometimes argued on the street just outside the drive gate.

  

Our room number was 106 and we had a very short hallway with a door to close it off......which we always left open.  Occasionally one of our neighbors would close it, but not often.

This is the man on the patio to the left of our window.  He was there every morning....very diligent on his work.

Hotel Des Grande Ecoles

Susan, Jan and Barb waiting in the garden for everyone else to be ready to go out for another fabulous walk or adventure on the Metro.  Below is a view of the front of the hotel.  The office is just inside the door.  Judi and I were on the second floor and Jan and Barb were on the top floor of this building.  Susan and Pat were across the garden in the Garden Building.  (The apartments you can see in the background just over Barb and Jan's heads were actually across a private drive that was under the window in our room (Judi and Sharon).

Looking at journals.............

In the evenings, we would gather

in the garden at the hotel and look at journals, visit and sometimes eat.  ")  This night we were looking at the journals everyone made to bring with them.  Some (like mine) were very simple with pockets for stashing little goodies (like used Metro tickets, receipts, business cards and tags from clothing, scarves, shoes, etc).  I also had enough pages to write a little recap of our day before going to bed each night.  Pat had a rather elegant one with a material covering.  She was adding pictures and ephemera each day.  It was great to sit and discuss the different styles we had used and also to discuss what projects we might launch into in the coming year. 

Photographer at work.....

Judi was trying to get a good shot of Notre Dame from this side of the river.  We found that we could get a great picture of Notre Dame if we were standing near the bookstalls.  You can see Barb's back as she searches the bookstalls for something to catch her eye........and not the pocket book!  ")

Treasure found!

Here is Pat showing off her treasure that she purchased at the bookstalls.  She is the Queen of Unburied Treasures!  (Of course, it might helps to know exactly what you're looking for!)  I think I was so excited to actually be in Paris that I was trying to look at everything at once and not focusing on a particular item.  It took me a few days to settle down to some idea of what I really wanted to find at bookstalls/flea markets.  And, then, there were so many shops to look into!  I was sad we were only going to have 9 days to wander through the streets to discover buried treasures.

Bookstalls on the Bridge

These bookstalls have been on the bridge for centuries.  Some families have been renting the same one for 100yrs or longer.  There are some very pricey books, papers, prints, etc., but there are also bargains to be found.  And, of course, there are the usual touristy trinkets among the treasures, too.  You can see Jan's back as she looks over the wares of the sellers.

Notre Dame

This reknowned church needs no introduction......and it was within blocks of our hotel.  It was amazing how many times we viewed it from other locations.  The architecture is mind boggling.  I was fascinated by those flying buttresses and the beautiful rosette window.  (You will see a better photo of the window when I post our photos from the River Seine boat trip.)  This is another place that I saw only from the outside.  I kept thinking I could return to places.....and this would have been the easiest to return to........but it just seemed as though our time in Paris passed much too quickly.  (dreaming of a return trip "). 

Shakespeare in Paris?

              Judi is standing in front of one of the first "sights" that we visited in Paris.  There were so many people inside and I was so jet-lagged that I just could not make myself go inside.  This English language bookstore was opened about 1937 in tribute to one in the 6th arrondissement.  It is also a reading library.  This location  had an appearance in Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" movie.  I really thought I'd come back later in the week and take a peek.......but with so many other plans daily, it just didn't happen.                                                                                                                                       

Arrived in Paris at last!

At last we are in Paris!  Our dear friend Susan Wilkin (in center) was also on our flight, but the customs and baggage situation separated us and we ended up taking separate taxis to the hotel.  Waiting for us there was our "online" friend, Pat Rogerson (left) who is part of our art group.  This was our first time to meet face to face!  It felt as though she had been right next door all these years.  (6yrs)  ")   We landed about 9:30AM and could not check into our rooms until after 1:00PM.  So we hauled all our luggage into the office and hallway and took off on a tour of the neighborhood, led by our new friend, Pat.  We were to be a part of this little neighborhood known as the Latin Quarter in the fifth arrondissement for the next nine days.

More travel companions.............

Jan White (on the right) met us at the Tulsa airport and we flew to Chicago for our next connection.  Barb Wenkel (2nd from the right) flew in from St. Louis to join us.  We were awaiting the arrival of Susan Wilkin.  Susan's plane from OkCity landed just minutes before we were to take off.  She entered the plane, they shut the doors and we were ready to taxi down the runway for take-off!  It was hard to believe we were actually on our way to Paris!.......and with our wonderful friends!

I have a copy of MINGLE.......

......that I am dying to give away!!!   I will be counting the

comments and whose friends have signed in on Oct. 28!

Contact those friends.......................

The Trip Begins!

Judi and I awaiting our plane at the airport.  This is the lady that introduced me to rubberstamping in 1994.  At first I just used it with the PreK-4 class that I taught.  In 1997 I decided to make my own Christmas cards and really became addicted to those little rubber creations.  I left teaching in Dec. of 1998, and in Jan 1999, Judi and I joined a group of artists in Collinsville.  We learned many techniques and styles of art as we collaborated with these ladies each month and worked on group projects.  When our leader moved away, we tried to stay connected, but after several months it was obvious that we were going in different directions.
After a few years of belonging to other art groups, one of our original group who had become "StampDiva" with an online store, invited us to join her online group.  The group going to Paris together is part of that group.  Even though a few faces have changed over the past, the nucleus is still the same:  Susan (StampDiva), Pat, Sara, Jan, Barb, Judi, Minori and myself.  We had never met Pat face to face as she lives in England, nor Minori, who lives in Japan........that's the great thing about having an online group!  ")  There would be six of us together in Paris:  Susan, Pat, Judi, Sharon, Jan and Barb (who lives in St. Louis).

I am seeing RED!.........

.....a peek inside the new MINGLE magazine!  I hope these fabulous photos entice you to get this magazine before you hostess another event!  The tagline under the title of this newest publication from Stampington & Co. accurately describes this magazine:  Creative ideas for unique gatherings!

Want a chance to win a copy of this new publication?  Just have all your friends visit this blog...... remember to have the leave a comment and who invited them so I'll have your name when I count the visits.  ")